1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a copy material feeding device which is provided for copying machines, laser printers, over-head projectors and other apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
A copying machine, which is an example of apparatuses requiring copy material feed, is designed to be fed copy material (for example, copy paper: hereinafter called paper) by a copy material feeding device (hereinafter called paper feed device) which is normally installed inside or outside of the apparatus. The paper feed device comprises a plurality of copy material feeding members (for example, such as paper feed cassettes: hereinafter given an explanation referring to paper feed cassettes) classified by each size of paper, and paper of the selected size is fed to the device from the corresponding paper feed cassette. For conveying the paper from the paper feed device, lateral feed where the transport direction coincides with the crosswise direction of the copy paper, is preferred in terms of transport speed to longitudinal feed where the transport direction coincides with the lengthwise direction of the paper. Some of the paper feed devices provided in copying machines can transport paper of a large size such as B4 or even A3 in the lateral feed.
However, feeding large size paper laterally causes the photosensitive drum, the transport rollers, the transport paths of the paper, and other parts inside the copying machine to become large. As a result, the copying machine itself tends to become bulky, and its cost tends to rise. Hence generally, the method of longitudinally feeding laterally paper of a large size such as A3 or B4, and feeding paper of a size not larger than A4 is adopted.
However, in a copying machine with a variable magnification function that performs reductions and enlargements, paper is generally transported longitudinally. Accordingly, for feeding paper of a size not larger than A4, paper feed cassettes that feed the paper longitudinally are necessary to perform reduced copies (those cassettes are generally denoted by A4R and B5R). Moreover, when thinking of transport speed, A4 and B5 paper feed cassettes that feed the paper laterally are also necessary (those cassettes are simply denoted by A4 and B5). Accordingly, when it comes to installing those different types of paper feeding cassettes, the arrangement causes the size of the copying machine to be large and its cost to rise. When trying to avoid having a bulky device, a problem is presented in that a complicated operation is necessary because of having to change a plurality of the paper feed cassettes as occasion calls.
Therefore, copying machines designed to solve the above problems have been disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (laid-open) No. 59245/1981 and No. 123859/1984 (Tokukaisho 56-59245 and 59-123859), wherein the same paper feeding cassette is commonly used, for example, for both B5 and B5R or for both A4 and A4R, and by rotating the feeding position of copy paper in the paper feeding cassette, the arrangement permits the copy paper to be shifted either in lateral or longitudinal feeding positions.
However, the conventional arrangement has a problem in that a more appropriate arrangement has not been achieved in terms of a positional relationship between the rotatable cassette (capable of rotating and shifting itself either in a lateral feeding position to feed paper laterally or in a longitudinal feeding position to feed paper longitudinally) and the fixed cassette whose feeding position is fixed either in lateral or longitudinal feeding positions, and by achieving the appropriate arrangement, the transport time of the paper is expected to be further minimized.